392 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



bisulfid, as described on a preceding page, is recommended. The sudden wilting of 

 the leaves of a branch indicates that a borer is girdling it and an effort should be 

 made to find the creature. Wounds made either by the borer or by a person looking 

 for it, should be cleaned and plastered with a cement of fresh cow dung and lime, in 

 order to hasten their healing. 



In sugar maple groves, Mr. Kirkland advises that the underbrush be left as much 

 as possible, as he has observed that the clearing up of the shrubbery has repeatedly 

 been followed by severe injury from this borer. As the beetles are known to be sun 

 loving insects, it is very probable that they would place their eggs where the conditions 

 were most pleasant. 



Aaple Tree Proner. 



Elaphidion viUosum Fabr. 



This insect probably attracts more attention than any other species causing the 

 same amount of damage. As a general rule it is not very injurious, except possibly 

 to shade trees on lawns and along roadsides where symmetry and beauty are desirable 

 requisites. Aside from damage to the trees, the falling twigs are a source of annoy- 

 ance and form the one sign of the insect's presence most commonly noted. 



Description. This species, like some others, is most easily recognized in connection 

 with its work. A fallen twig is found to have its larger end nearly eaten off, as repre- 

 sented on plate 3, the cutting being nearly as smooth as that of a sharp chisel. The 

 central burrow is plugged with sawdust and if the twig be whittled, a large proportion 

 of its interior will be found eaten away and somewhere in the burrow there is usually 

 a whitish grub with brown jaws (Plate 3, figure 7), our carpenter. The parent beetle 

 is a rather slender, grayish brown insect (Plate 3, figure 9). 



Life History and Habits. The parent insect is said to deposit in July an egg in 

 one of the smaller twigs. The young larva feeds for a time on the softer tissues under 

 the bark, packing its burrow with castings and working toward the base of the twig. 

 Later it bores along the center of the limb, making a more or less oval channel. In 

 the early fall our borer quietly eats away a large portion of the woody fiber, plugs the 

 end of its burrow with castings and waits for a high wind to break off the nearly 

 severed branch. In this manner the larva reaches the ground in safety. Late in the 

 fall' or in the early spring the change to the pupa takes place, the transformation to 

 the perfect insect occurring in the spring, the beetles emerging from the limbs in June 

 and continuing abroad till September. Occasionally the insect completes its changes 



